The Moonshot Podcast

This episode of The Moonshot Podcast explores how X is reimagining computer chip design to power the next generation of AI.

Computer engineer Tammo Spalink joins host Astro Teller to discuss Project Positron and their radical decision to build "positronic brains" for robots that prioritize real-time response over raw throughput.

Astro then speaks with Raj Apte about Project Bodger, a moonshot that uses AI to design the hardware of the future. By moving away from traditional, hand-drawn architectures and toward "inverse design," the team explores how computers can create chips that are faster and more efficient than anything humans could design on their own.

Finally, the conversation looks toward the future of automated chip design and its role in accelerating Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). From personalizing healthcare to solving complex climate challenges, Astro and Raj discuss how these breakthroughs are ensuring the "silent, beating heart" of technology can keep up with our biggest ambitions.

Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, The Moonshot Podcast goes behind the scenes with creators and inventors trying to find radical solutions and breakthrough technologies to the world’s biggest problems. These are the untold stories of innovation from 15 years of Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Pique Action production for X, The Moonshot Factory, produced in association with Blanchard House.
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This episode of The Moonshot Podcast explores two moonshots that investigated very different ways to use water: harvesting it from the air and transforming it into fuel.

Astro Teller first chats with Neil Treat and Claudia Truesdell from Project H2E (“Hydration to Everyone”). The H2E team explored whether it would be possible to improve access to safe drinking water by harvesting water from the air.

Next he sits down with Kathy Hannun from Foghorn, an X project that found a way to pull carbon and hydrogen out of seawater and combine it to create a new type of carbon-neutral fuel. The team successfully created fuel using this method, however they weren’t able to do so at a cost competitive with gasoline.

0:00 - Intro
00:58 - Meet Neil Treat and Claudia Treusdell from H2E
01:48 - The crisis: Global water insecurity
04:14 - The location of water-stressed communities
06:17 - The "Magic Box": Harvesting water from the air
09:00 - Defining H2E’s "Kill Criteria"
09:25 - Mechanics: How the H2e device functioned
11:24 - Engineering the internal air flow
12:51 - Material science: Selecting the right desiccant
14:29 - The "Mule": Prototyping a moonshot
15:24 - Early H2E prototype evolution
16:59 - Surprising engineering hurdles
18:48 - Sharing H2E’s results with the world
20:12 - Could H2E’s moonshot become a reality today?
22:12 -What the H2E team are up to today
24:01 - Project Foghorn: The fuel from the sea
24:49 - The origins of Foghorn
27:09 - Why Foghorn pursued a carbon-neutral fuel for combustion engines
28:59 - The process: Extracting CO2 from seawater
30:35 - Chemistry: Turning ocean water into methanol
33:01 - Foghorn’s "Kill Criteria" and testing
39:13 - Why the project was wound down
42:21 - Lessons learned
43:18 - Remembering Matt Eisaman
44:33 - Conclusion

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Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, The Moonshot Podcast goes behind the scenes with creators and inventors trying to find radical solutions and breakthrough technologies to the world’s biggest problems. These are the untold stories of innovation from 16 years of Alphabet’s moonshot factory.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Pique Action production for X, The Moonshot Factory, produced in association with Blanchard House.

If you want to take your own moonshots, we've developed a certificate course with MasterClass on how to take bold ideas and translate them into real world impact. Check it out here: https://www.masterclass.com/certificates/breakthrough-innovation-strategy-from-bold-idea-to-business-impact
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This episode of The Moonshot Podcast explores how X, The Moonshot Factory, is reimagining a better way to plan and make smarter, faster building decisions to address the global housing crisis.

Host Astro Teller is joined by architect Michelle Kaufmann to discuss the quest of making sustainable, high-quality homes accessible to everyone through the power of prefabrication and AI. They look back on how the team developed a first-of-its-kind software system that could iterate hundreds of building designs in seconds—essentially creating an "intelligent clay" that calculates costs and structural requirements in real time.

Next, Astro talks with Adrian Walker and Julia Ling about their new venture, Anori. They discuss how generative AI and data-sharing are finally digitizing the construction industry, allowing developers to de-risk projects and optimize for health and sustainability from day one.

Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, The Moonshot Podcast goes behind the scenes with creators and inventors trying to find radical solutions and breakthrough technologies to the world’s biggest problems. These are the untold stories of innovation from 15 years of Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Pique Action production for X, The Moonshot Factory, produced in association with Blanchard House.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode of The Moonshot Podcast explores X's pursuit of radical solutions to drive energy abundance and resilience for humanity.

Host Astro Teller is joined by Fort Felker to discuss the untold story of the Makani Moonshot, which sought to harvest wind energy in a radically different, lightweight way, using a tethered, kite-like aircraft.

Next, Astro and engineer Raj Apte discusses Project Malta and the idea of creating a "time shifter for energy," exploring innovative ways to store energy until the grid needs it.
Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, The Moonshot Podcast goes behind the scenes with creators and inventors trying to find radical solutions and breakthrough technologies to the world’s biggest problems. These are the untold stories of innovation from 15 years of Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Pique Action production for X, The Moonshot Factory, produced in association with Blanchard House.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode of The Moonshot Podcast dives into the future of biology, exploring how to harness life's "tiny factories" to solve humanity's biggest challenges.

Host Astro Teller sits down with Brad Zamft, CEO of Heritable Agriculture, to talk about programming plants to dramatically increase yield, pest, and drought resistance for a more sustainable food system.
Next Astro speaks with Relly Brandman from project A-Life about unlocking the manufacturing power of biology, using AI to create a "virtual cell" that shifts biomanufacturing from slow trial-and-error to a predictable engineering discipline for making materials like medicines, fuels, and textiles.

Hosted by Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots, The Moonshot Podcast goes behind the scenes with creators and inventors trying to find radical solutions and breakthrough technologies to the world’s biggest problems. These are the untold stories of innovation from 15 years of Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory.

The Moonshot Podcast is a Pique Action production for X, The Moonshot Factory, produced in association with Blanchard House.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices